Surreal film on measurement of tiny quantities, made as soft-sell promotional piece for Chevrolet automobiles. Excellent stop-motion march of slide rules, compasses, gauge blocks and micrometers at end.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Handy (Jam) Organization
Production Company: Handy (Jam) Organization
Sponsor: Chevrolet Division, General Motors Corporation
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keywords: Physics: Measurement; Engineering; Animation: Stop-motion

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Spuzz - - March 10, 2004
Subject: is it worth it for the end?
seemingly non-ending salute to measuring stuff to 348/400 of an inch just goes on and on, telling us look how we can measure this! Look how we can measure that! Till it finally ends on what I remember this film for, the Third Reich salute made by measuring instruments! Very odd animation of measuring tools in a somewhat shall we say, propaganstic sequence. It even has multiple shots of a car coming towards us and a somewhat sublinal "go" being repeated over and over... Very bizarre. This film could have easily been cute in half but keeping the fascist ending intact.

Shotlist

"THROUGH THE MICROSCOPE IS THE FANTASTIC LAND BEYOND HUMAN VISION, WHERE MEN WEIGH SMOKE, WHERE ELECTRIC SPARKS ARE SLUGGISH, & WHERE SOLID STEEL IS BENT BY A FEATHER TOUCH." EVOLUTION & TECHNIQUES OF PRECISION MEASUREMENT, SHOP PROCESSES.

Reel 2:

01:52:49:08
CU Man with glasses at desk working with pencils and ruler. In the background windows with parked cars on the outside.

01:52:58:18
Montage of superimposed images. A wall with ONE YARD written on it splits into two; wall with ONE FOOT written on it splits and then with ONE INCH

01:53:38:05
Micro-view of the surface of a cracker. Camera pans away.

01:53:43:24
Micro-shot of the eye of a man.

01:54:22:24
CU Hands manipulating microscope lenses.

01:54:42:02
CU Eyes of a man with glasses looking into a microscope.

01:54:48:15
CU CHEVROLET dial next to a microscope lens.

01:55:28:23
CU A dial (?).

01:56:20:27
CU Monkey wrench removing small metal tube from inside another cylinder.

01:57:09:23
CU Dial: AMERICAN GAUGE CO. DAYTON, OHIO

01:57:18:17
MLS Assembly line with men testing tins.

01:57:36:26
CU Dial with numbers, set between 5 and 6.

01:57:40:26
CU Assembly line, man inserts a stick with dial on the end into metal tubes.

01:58:12:07
CU Long metal cylinder placed into a piece of equipment. Background: factory.

01:58:33:05
CU Dial.

01:59:56:20
CU Electrical pick-up and amplification.

02:00:17:29
MCU Blond girl with bow in hair smiles.

02:00:25:06
CU Clock mechanism.

02:00:52:13
CU Car in a factory surrounded by men.

02:01:17:29
LS Animated compasses walking in line.

02:01:20:01
CU Dial with writing: RANDALL & STICKNEY, WALTHAM MASS, USA

02:01:23:27
CU Animated dial with writing: - TU +

02:02:26:22
Animated dial in background as cars drive towards foreground on horse-shoe-shaped track with GO written on it.

02:02:50:26
the end: A JAM HANDY PICTURE

MONTAGES FANTASY STOP MOTION WIPES SURREALISM ADVERTISING AUTOMOBILES ASSEMBLY LINES MACHINERY INDUSTRY WORKERS LABORATORIES AMPLIFIERS SCALES WEIGHT BAZAARS ARABIA MERCHANTS SALES MEASUREMENT ROPE ARGUMENTS BALANCES WATER CLOCKS TIMES SMOKE ZOOMS TESTING EXPLOSIONS ARCS SPARKS OSCILLOSCOPES RAILROADS WHEELS STEEL HAIR MAGNIFICATION HALFTONES PRINTING SCISSORS ODDITIES BREAD EATING EYES VISION CLOSE-UPS BEARINGS CALIPERS DIVIDERS COMPASSES T-SQUARES TOOLS GAUGES MARCHES ORIENTALISM Chevrolet Motor Company (sponsor) Testing Precision Science Engineering Microscopes Eyes Bread Rulers Scales Measurement Laboratories Ball bearings Pressure Metals Micrometers Automobiles (engineering) Automobiles (transportation of) Animation (stop-motion) Marches Tschaikovsky (PathŽtique) Objects (marching) Slide rules (animated) Micrometers (animated) Compasses (animated) Automobiles (animated) Clocks (animated) Pendulums Balls (bouncing) Visual effects Montages Scales Pencil points (weight of) Sound Heartbeats Girls (young, as patients) Cardiography Stethoscopes Medical technology Microphones Audio
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